How to COMPLETELY uninstall Norton in Vista

[Guest]

My computer (running Vista) came with Norton Internet Security 2007
pre-installed. I eventually removed it with Norton Removal Tool, but of
course it left a lot of files and entries behind. I still see traces of
Symantec in the registry, and my Security Center claims I have 2 firewalls
running (the uninstalled Norton being one of them).

I tried cleaning the registry manually (through REGEDIT), but I must've
deleted something I shouldn't have, because I had problems starting up
afterwards and had to use System Restore. Could anybody give me a clearer
idea of exactly what registry entries to remove, to uninstall Norton
completely from Vista? Thank you!

 

[Paddy Landau]

Get hold of Symantec.
www.symantec.com

You can contact them by email or by "live chat" from their website.

I wish you luck. They've sent me complex instructions, which I've
followed to the letter, but Windows Security Center still reports
it as running even though all traces of the program have disappeared.

 

[AJR]

Norton provides an utility on their site for Norton removal.

 

[Guest]

AJR,

If you read my original post carefully, I've already done that. Norton
Removal tool did not COMPLETELY remove Norton products.

 

[Peter Foldes]

http://basconotw.mvps.org/SymRem.htm

The only sure way that I know of is to do a complete clean reformat. For me Norton is a virus by itself.

 

[Guest]

You can never completely remove Norton(unless you format)!
You can get close though, enough to not be bothered by 2 firewalls.
Go into your program files, and open the Norton folder. Delete each file,
one at a time; a couple you can not remove(access denied), don't worry about
them.
Then go to the Symantec folder, open it, and do the same.
Use regedit to go into your Security, and delete Norton and Symantec keys.

 

[Guest]

There are no more Symantec or Norton folders in my Program files or Program
data. I've already tried cleaning the registry - with Ccleaner and Registry
Mechanic, as well as manually (that's when I must have deleted one entry too
many - see original post), but I'll try again.

The problem with formatting is having to use OEM recovery discs that will
bring me right back to preinstalled Norton trialware. But if I ever get fed
up with the whole OEM system configuration, I'll start from scratch then.

Thanks for your comments, everybody!

 

[Guest]

I was able to manually clean the registry through RegEdit somewhat this time.
However, I was unable to delete the following keys (error message "Unable to
delete all specified values"):

- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> ControlSet001 ->Enum ->Root ->
LEGACY_IDSVIX86 -> 0000 -> DeviceDesc.REG_SZ (Symantec Intrusion Prevention
Driver);
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> ControlSet003 ->Enum ->Root ->
LEGACY_IDSVIX86 -> 0000 -> DeviceDesc.REG_SZ (Symantec Intrusion Prevention
Driver);
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet ->Enum ->Root ->
LEGACY_IDSVIX86 -> 0000 -> DeviceDesc.REG_SZ (Symantec Intrusion Prevention
Driver);
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows NT -> Current
Version -> Schedule -> CompatibilityAdapter -> Signatures -> Norton Internet
Security - Run Full System Scan.job.REG_BINARY;
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows NT -> Current
Version -> Schedule -> CompatibilityAdapter -> Signatures -> Norton Internet
Security - Run Full System Scan.job.fp.REG_DWORD;
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE -> Microsoft -> Windows NT -> Current
Version -> Schedule -> TaskCache -> Tasks ->
{F407DEA4-5E8B-42CE-93F0-4D39581D3BE1} -> Path.REG_SZ (\Norton Internet
Security - Run Full System Scan).

Any idea how to remove those keys from the registry?

BTW, Task Scheduler doesn't show any mention of Symantec/Norton. While
Windows Security Center still shows Norton Internet Security as running!